Distributed computing is a method of computing in which tasks are divided into relatively smaller sub-tasks that are then distributed across a network of computing devices for simultaneous processing. Distributed computing has been used in a myriad of applications and systems such as, for example, social networking, online digital mapping, video-sharing websites, and advanced collaboration software.
However, there is generally a lack of built-in security mechanisms that insure the safety and integrity of data that is being processed through a distributed computing system. For example, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) technology, often used in connection with distributed computing applications, may provide a naming and accessing mechanism, that allows users to create, share, and destroy data objects such as text, images, multi-media objects and metrics of various kinds. However, with these data objects scattered throughout the distributed computing system, the issue is how to prevent unauthorized or undesired accessing, altering or deletion of the data objects.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.